The Red Room Virus
by SilverDiamonde07
Summary: Neji Hyuuga was found dead under the most bizarre circumstances. Police has ruled it off as suicide, but the mysterious organization Akatsuki thinks otherwise. Itachi Uchiha, the founder requests the help of his brother and two friends to get to the bottom of it. However, no one knows just what exactly they are getting into... [Alternate Universe, Horror, Mystery]
1. Prologue

_(Phew! The Prologue is here! It's not that long though. I don't own the characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto! And I don't own the original "The Red Room" either! ^^ -~SilverDiamonde07~)_

 **Prologue…**

A young man lay on his stomach on his bed, with his laptop in front of him, typing away. His pale eyes roamed over the screen as he quickly typed. "Darn it. If only Lee wasn't so incompetent, this project would have been over by now!" The man groaned, frustrated. He was nowhere near completing the assignment that was due the following week. He looked at the time.

12:27a.m.

There was still so much research to be gathered. He propped a hand underneath his chin and sighed. Perhaps he was being a little too harsh. After all, it wasn't Lee's fault that he over exerted himself in the physical examination test a couple of days ago, and had to rest in hospital.

In fact, Lee was getting discharged later that night, and Ten-Ten was planning on paying him a visit. She had insisted that Neji come along too, to which he had agreed. He didn't really have a choice. After all, over time he had come to consider Lee and Ten-Ten as not just friends, but as siblings. It would be rude of Neji not to visit him. He had told Ten-Ten to go on ahead, that he would drop by in his own time.

He had to complete as much research as he could before he left the house. He tucked a stray strand of his long brown hair behind his ear.

He clicked on a link on his web browser, when a pop-up came up. It read, 'Do you like?' followed by a childish voice saying it.

The man frowned. What was this? Did someone hack into his computer? Was it some kind of prank?

'Whatever', he thought. 'I don't have time for this right now'.

He clicked on the 'x' on the top right hand corner of the small pop-up box.

….

The next day, the entire student body of Konoha High School was in a panic. Neji Hyuuga was found in his room, dead.


	2. Chapter 1: What Happened?

_(Hey ho, hey ho! Hello everyone, it's me, SilverDiamonde07! So, a BIG welcome to the first chapter of the story! This chapter is kind of slow, mainly focussing on a couple of flashbacks, but hopefully the pace will pick up in the following chapters! ^^)_

 **Chapter 1**

It was Friday morning.

Naruto Uzumaki sat at his desk, staring blankly at the whiteboard. Class was yet to start. His mind was a mess, trying to comprehend everything that had happened. Exasperated, he ran a tan hand through his messy blond hair and yawned. He was sleep deprived, and for good reason.

…..

 **The Previous Night**

…..

Naruto's classmate, Rock Lee, had come pounding at his door at 1 o' clock in the morning. He looked a mess, which was very unlike for the guy who was always boasting on about his youthful spirit. Naruto, being the hospitable person that he was, took him in.

Although tired himself, Naruto made them both some tea and handed Lee a mug. Lee, however, simply set the mug down in front of him on the coffee table. He sank back into the armchair that he was sitting on and buried his head in his hands. Pretty soon, big fat tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Naruto looked at him worriedly. What on Earth had happened to him? He looked absolutely terrible!

After struggling with his emotions for a good ten minutes, Lee let loose.

… **A Couple of Hours Earlier** ….

Lee had called Neji's home to apologize for not being able to do his share of the class project, and for dumping Neji with the said work. However, Neji had failed to pick up his phone, which was very unlike for the Student Council President.

It was way past midnight, and most people would be asleep by now, but Lee knew that Neji was somewhat of a night owl, preferring to stay up late, especially if academic studies were involved.

Lee immediately grew worried that Neji was indeed very mad at him. He took off out of his house and had run on his own two feet to Neji's apartment, which was situated a couple of blocks away.

He was only discharged from hospital a few hours earlier, but Lee being, well, _Lee_ , had immediately bounced back to his usual self. Ten-Ten had dropped by, and had informed him that Neji would be coming round later.

Lee had bounded up the numerous steps, wrung the doorbell and waited. No reply. He wrung the bell again. Still no reply. Getting annoyed, Lee retrieved the spare key that Neji had kept hidden inside the nearby potted plant in case of an emergency. Only those close to Neji knew where this key was, and Lee grinned at this fact, glad that Neji had considered him a good friend to be entrusted with this secret.

He twisted the key in the lock, and the door had swung open silently. The lights were on in the hallway, illuminating the small apartment. The house was quiet, too quiet _(AN: I know, cliché_ _line here!)._ Lee frowned. Surely Neji had heard him coming in? He had wrung the bell after all. Twice. But no one greeted him. Surely Neji wasn't _that_ angry to be ignoring Lee?

Lee proceeded to go inside and into the kitchen. Everything was in order, in their rightful place. The plates were in the shelves of kitchen cupboards, the saucepans hanging by their hooks. The fridge was well stocked, considering how Hinata had dropped by earlier and left behind some groceries for her cousin.

Near the door was a framed picture of Neji, Lee, their sensei Might Guy, and their other good friend, Ten-Ten. It was taken a couple of months back, when the class had gone on their month long camping trip. The four have been assigned together as a team, where they had to compete with other teams for prizes and other goodies.

In this particular photo, they were dressed up in garb resembling to those of ninjas, and were posing in their own particular fashion. Might Guy and Rock Lee looked enthusiastic, with big grins and waving at the camera wildly, with their bowl-cut hairstyle shining in the sun and their green outfit glaring brightly. Neji's face was set in a blank, unimpressed stare, looking at the camera with his arms crossed. Ten-Ten was smiling sweetly, with her arms around Lee and Neji.

Lee smiled wistfully. It was over this period of time at the camping grounds that the three students and their mentor had become close acquainted. Even after they had disbanded after the end of the camp, they had all kept in touch, despite being in different classes. While Neji, who, for the most part, had been a loner and a cool genius, had become quite close to Lee and Ten-Ten, and held them in quite high regard, even though he would never admit it to them, especially to Lee, whose ego was already large enough to engulf modern Tokyo, and didn't need further encouragement.

Tearing his gaze away from the photo, Lee walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. There was no one there. Where's Neji? He normally did his work in the living room, so why wasn't he here?

"Hey! Neji! What are you doing? You're not mad at me now, are you?" Lee shouted into the dim silence.

Nothing.

"Neji? I know you're ticked at me, but come on!"

Still no reply.

Suddenly, a loud **thump** echoed throughout the small apartment. Lee jumped about a foot in the air.

What was that?

"N-Neji? What are you doing exactly?"

Lee was getting uneasy.

Silence followed.

"NEJI! This isn't funny! Stop trying to scare me!"

Suddenly, it occurred to Lee that he hadn't checked Neji's bedroom.

Lee laughed at his own stupidity. Of course! Neji must have retired to his room! Lee had forgotten that Neji preferred to work on lengthy projects sitting on his bed.

Lee took off and bounded towards Neji's room. The door was open, and Lee grinned. He hadn't forgotten that Neji kept the door open whenever he was in his room, and closed whenever he was out. It was a habit that had rubbed off on him as well.

Lee skidded to a halt outside the room's entrance, and looked in.

And he froze.

"N-Neji…?!"

Lee's eyes widened. He simply couldn't register the ghastly sight in front of him. It was as if time had just decided to go on hiatus or something. Everything seemed to stop right then and there.

The room, which once had clean, light grey walls, had been stained, or rather, 'painted' red. Red was splattered here and there, covering most of the walls, a little of the ceiling and floor.

Lee covered his nose with his hand, still taking in the sight. The stench that emanated from the room confirmed that the red substance was indeed blood.

But what had Lee really doubling over was the crumpled figure in the centre of the room.

It was Neji.

His clothes were stained red by the blood, and his hands were dripping with it. There was a big, gaping wound at his neck, obviously from tearing at it with his fingers. His long, silky brown hair, which was normally held back in a loose ponytail, was splayed out around him, like a fan. Blood was dribbling down his chin, in thin streams. Some of the hair had plastered to his face, with blood acting as the adhesive….and his eyes. They were wide, frightened… the pale, almost white orbs staring straight at Lee, no, _through_ Lee. But they weren't seeing anything. The eyes were cold, lifeless, the soul no longer a part of this world.

He was dead. Neji Hyuuga was dead.

After several long minutes, Lee's mind caught up with what he was seeing. He let out a blood-curdling scream, and crashed through and out of the apartment complex, wanting to get the heck out of there.

… **At Naruto's House** …

Naruto stared at Lee, dumbstruck. Surely he wasn't hearing correctly? Lee was never the type to lie. But he looked terrified out of his skin!

"So…you found Neji….dead….in his room?" Naruto asked slowly.

Lee nodded stiffly.

"I didn't know what to do…..I just….I couldn't think…..your house was the closest…." Lee mumbled.

Naruto understood. He only lived a street away from Neji. It was only a rough two minute walk between his house and Neji's apartment.

Naruto tried again. "Have you called the police?"

Lee shook his head.

Naruto reached for his phone. Internally, he was panicking just as much as Lee, but he knew that one of them had to keep their composure in order to pull through. Naruto was careful to not let his fear show. He dialled for the police, and waited, holding his breath.

…..

 **Present**

…..

Naruto groaned at the memory. It was a mess! He had to stay up all night answering questions to the police. Lee had completely broken down by the time the police arrived, and it was up to Naruto to relay everything. Neji's body was taken in for inspection, and the authorities have ruled that Neji had committed suicide in his bedroom. A motive was yet to be established.

Lee had to return to the hospital in case he needed counselling.

Now here Naruto was, trying to forget everything, even for a moment. The school was in an uproar, after finding out that their Student Council President was found dead. However school resumed as normal, since the school was unwilling to let an incident like this disrupt the students' academic life.

But no one knew Naruto's part in it. He folded his arms on the table and buried his arms in them.

Somebody whapped something on Naruto's head lightly. "Oi. Dobe. Don't fall asleep."

Naruto sighed inwardly. There was no doubt about it. Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto raised his head. His raven haired best friend and rival was sitting opposite him. His jet-black hair was spiked up into his signature hairstyle that Naruto was sure he had spent hours getting every detail right. Naruto honestly thought that hair shaped into the form of a duck's bottom was a bit much, but he had to admit that the Uchiha managed to pull it off without looking like some kind of clown.

Straight, smooth bangs parted and came down to frame the porcelain like face. Dark ebony orbs peered out from behind the bangs. The eyes looked unimpressed, like they did on any given day. Typical.

He was sitting backwards on a chair, rolled up newspaper in hand.

Naruto groaned again. "Geez Sasuke, cut me some slack…I'm functioning on less than 2 hours of sleep, you know…"

Again, Sasuke hit Naruto with the newspaper. "I already know. Explaining everything to the police _is_ tedious in the dead of night…"

Naruto's head shot up and glared at Sasuke. How did Sasuke know about last night? "How do you…?" Naruto trailed off, dumbfounded.

Sasuke simply smirked. "In case you have forgotten, my cousin is leading the investigation."

That's right. Sasuke's cousin, Obito Uchiha, was the head of the police force. He oversaw every investigation that took place in the area. Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha, was the former captain of the force. He retired a couple of months back, and is now residing overseas. The position of captain was passed down to his nephew.

Naruto nodded. Fair enough. It only made sense that Sasuke knew inside info.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but the bell rang for the beginning of first period. "We'll talk later." With that said, Sasuke got up from his chair and went over to his own desk on the other side of the room.

Naruto laid his head back down on the table. There was no way in heck was he going to be able to focus on studies today, not that he was very attentive in the first place. He might as well catch up on his much needed sleep. Almost immediately, Naruto dozed off, with the buzz of the students lulling him to sleep.

 _(Okay! I think I'll cut it from there! What do you think? ^^' Please review, I would love to hear of your opinion! Ooh! If you have questions, leave them as well! I'll try my best to answer them! ^w^-~SilverDiamonde07~)_


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